placed near the mummy; and the body was then entombed with 

 magic ceremonies. Magic indeed played a prominent part in 

 the religion of the Egyptians. 



Exhibited in the case with the mummy are beads, pieces of 

 mummy wrappings, grains of wheat, and two carved stone bee- 

 tles, all discovered in Egyptian tombs. Near by is a cast of the 

 Rosetta Stone, on which is written in three sets of characters, 

 hieroglyphic, demotic, and Greek, a decree of deification of 

 Ptolemy V Epiphanes, promulgated by an assembly of priests 

 at Memphis. Comparison of the three forms of this decree gave 

 the first clue to the interpretation of Egyptian hieroglyphics. 

 The translation of the Rosetta Stone was published by Cham- 

 pollin in 1824. 



A second mummy case which, however, contains no mummy, 

 was purchased in 1896. It is of much more finished and artistic 

 workmanship and is said to have come from Sakkara. 



Of further interest in the Egyptian archeological collection 

 are a series of enlarged reproductions in water color of illustra- 

 tions from Belzoni's work on Egypt^ representing certain of 

 the mural paintings in the Tombs of the Kings at Thebes. Dr. 

 Manigault describes them as follows: 



Plate I. A sitting figure supposed to be one of the kings of 

 Egypt, taken from the tomb of Psammuthis. 



Plate II. The upper part represents the Eagle painted on the 

 ceiling of the first passage in the Tomb of Psammuthis; the 

 lower part is a tableau taken from above the door in the Side- 

 board-room of the same tomb. 



Plate III. Three human figures in different attitudes repre- 

 senting the tutelary winged goddess Rhea. 



Plates VI, VII & VIII. The hawk-headed god Ra, preceded 

 by an Egyptian returned from captivity; then Babylonian, Jew- 

 ish, and Nubian prisoners taken in foreign wars. 



Plate XIX. The King presented to Osiris, attended by the 

 goddess Buto and the hawk-headed god Ra. Laura M. Bragg. 



> London, 1820. 



51 



